Clark (Westerfield's Chain
) originally self-published this slim, sparse, and heartbreaking novel, selling it to passengers in his Chicago taxicab, and apparently autobiographical elements add poignant realism at the cost of emotional resolution. Eddie Miles is shaken when fellow nighttime cabbie Lenny Smigelkowski falls victim to a serial killer. Eddie also discovers Relita, a teen prostitute brutally mutilated and abandoned in an alley. As Eddie mourns Lenny's death and Relita's pain and tries to find their assailants, he ponders other losses: his father's real estate investments; the innocence of young women entering prostitution; Eddie's daughter, now in his ex-wife's custody; and his faith in humanity as his fares try to abuse, intimidate, and rob him. Little gems of hope sparkle throughout the gloom, but the bleak conclusion of Eddie's “long trip to nowhere” leaves him and the reader mired in despair. (June)
